Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-07-10

"The receipt? What receipt? a re
| Celpt for 800 bond" exclaimed the
detective in anxious perplexity, and, as if
/ I symbolic the sudden darkening of his
| horizon, the wax veSta IN his hand wen;
| GU.
"The postotfiCe receipt, you know"
! replied Mr.. Smith, getting to his feet with
groan and cropping for MS garments.
az didn't like to carry the thing myself
for fear of an accident, so | slipped it
! into registered envelope aud posted It
| just before l started this evening. If il
should be mislsid and had no receipt il
/ would be awkward"
! TIE next evening the detective arrived
in New York and reported MS adventures
and missdyentures at headquarters.
. The only thing to be done was TO con-
etnue The search for the bond in Mr..
oL ll u muse, and how to do this with
ou. MS jh.uL.o"iedge was q problem The
pIooaolI1ues d. pointed to its being
LleTe, unless ne na9 uG,strOYed it; for if
he valued 1t so Highly "a the ch -
cumstanCes seemed to shG-y 10 rvo,,i 4
not be likely to trust it Srt of
his hands, even to a safe deposit {, n
paGy. on the other hand, if he ha I
wished to destroy it, he would have done
so immediately upon getting possession
of it, instead of going through the pro-
cess of posting it in registered letter
addressed TO himself in New y ork.
While various plans to prosecute the
| investigation were being discussed, and
before any had been determined on, an
event occurred which seemed to be quite
as prOvldential as the railway accident,
| This was the appearance in a morning
paper Of an advertisement for private
secretary, directing the applicant to call
at the street and number where Mr.
Smith lived. A suitable officer having
been selected, he was at once dispatched
TO that gentlemsn's address. Mr.. Smith
had az interview with him; and after &
period Of uncertainty he had the distinC-
ton of being selected from among g con
siderable number of other candidates.
The new secretary lost no time in en-
terIng upon his duties-bOth those
eDjoined by Mr.. Smith and those in the
interest of the Central office. The former
were of somewhat singular character.
Mr.. Smith, it appeared, was 8 collector,
and his collection certainly had the merit
of beng an odd one. One part OF it-that
with which the new secretary was directly
COnCerned-was series OF scrap backs,
thirty or more in number, containing
cuttings from various newspapers, dating
from ten years back to the PISS.
ing day. These clippings were all Ss-
sCriptions Of crime committed in AsW
York, with their attendant circumstances
and consequences. All the crimes ia the
calendar, and many out of it, were rep
resented, and great pains had begp taken
to arrange and classify them, anGs6o index
the volumes Mr.. Smiths idea, to aid in
the realization Of which he had hired g
secretary, was to compile volume to be
entitled ga Decade of Metropolitan
Crime" embodying the essence ef all
these excerpts, accompanied by original
comments and disquisltiOns He had al
ready composed lengthy introduction
and written forty or fifty pages of the
book itself, but he had, as he explained
to the secretary, found the mechanical
labor of writing too wearisOme, and had
therefore decided to employ an assistant
who could copy out such portions of the
printed slips as were designated for that
purpose and write the rest st Mr.. Smiths
diCtstiOn.
Evidently here was employment for a
dilgent secretary sufficient to last him
an indefinite number of years, and GER
tain at the liberal salary paid by Mr..
Smith) to give him competence for life.
But inasmuch as the requirements Of the
Central Office demanded promptnesS in
the discharge of their part of the ar
rangement, the secretary geVe at least as
much pains to gaining the good will and
confidence of his employer as 70 the COM
position Of the decade" Mr.. SmisT
had more than the usal variety of authors,
and as the secretary did not fall into. the
memorable error committed by Gil Bias
their relations soon became cordial. The
seCretary's employer showed q really
surprising familiarity both with the
crimes and the criminals of New YORK,
end after few days. conversation on
the SUBJECT, and as q mark of special
favor, he introduced him to hitherto
unsuspected feature of his collection.
This was contained in g couple Of
chests of drawers, such as naturalists
sometimes use for the preservation OF
their specimens. TIE drawers were
shallow and were divided into nfnero9g
compartments, in each Of Which was al
"obiect"with descriptive ls5el attached.
These objects were nothing LEGS than "a
assortment of what may be termed CpsEa-
inal relics. Here wss the revolver o. The
knife with which murder was c0amit-
ted, bit of rope with which fhe muir
derer was hanged, pair ofsAandcuffs
used st the arrest Of noted thief, g
blackmailing letter sent to q distinguished
pubic man, check signed with q forged
signature, a viGl which had contained
prussic acid used by suicide, watch
stolen from the pocket Of Judge of
the Supreme court, g diamond breast
pin hlched from the bosom Of a well
known belle in New York society, an ar
archist Internal machine with the explo-
sive extrsctedl, 8 counterfeit $40 bill,
Continued on ISergnth Pnne-